Abstract The juvenile Justice System has gone through many changes in America and are represented through six main periods that will be discussed in this paper. The periods are called the Puritan
Era (1646–1824), the Refuge Period (1824-1899), the Juvenile Court Period (1899-1960),
The Juvenile Rights Period (1960-1980), the Crime Control Period (1980-2005), and The Kids are Different Period (2005-present). Juvenile Justice has constantly changed depending on the beliefs, needs and wants of society during a certain era. There are reformers who have fought and continue to do so for the best interest of juveniles and society. They have played a major role and succeeded in many …show more content…
Institutions were opened, which were half prison and half school house, and they were occupied by orphans and children convicted of crimes. Many children were placed in these homes because of neglect or being homeless and stayed until they were adults. The houses were run by a strict program of work, study and discipline. Reform schools were also opened to provide discipline and education in a home like atmosphere. Even with the reform schools children could still be arrested. The process for arrests, trial, and imprisonments were the same for children and adults during this period. (Cole, Smith, DeJong page 472). The third period is The Juvenile Court Period from 1899 until 1960. Juvenile criminality became a focus and reformers pushed for individualized care and treatment to offenders of all kinds to include adult criminals, the mentally ill, and juvenile delinquents. They pushed for the use of probation, treatment, indeterminate sentences, and parole for adults and succeeded in similar programs for juveniles. The upper-middle class reformers were called child savers, …show more content…
The philosophy came from the idea that the state would deal with a child much like a good parent would and procedures would be informal and private. Social workers and psychologists were used in the system instead of lawyers because social workers and psychologists could determine the underlying behavior problem. (Cole, Smith, DeJong page 472
– 473). According to (lawyershop) in the article The History of America’s Juvenile Justice
System the Progressive Era in the United States was from 1900 until 1918 and was a time of social reform. It follows a period of discontent where American’s experienced struggles such as the women’s suffrage movement, and the fight against child labor. In 1899, the State of Illinois established the first juvenile court and within 30 years, all the states had established juvenile courts. The main difference between juvenile and adult court was that juvenile courts were civil in nature and adult courts were criminal. (Maryland.gov). Next came the Juvenile Rights Period from 1960 until 1980. In the early 1960s lawyers and scholars began to criticize the extent of discretion given to juvenile justice officials, and the